Over 300 people attended the 10th-anniversary celebration of the Olorien Community Clinic in Arusha, Tanzania. This clinic is a joint ministry of BBFI missionaries Vernon and Mary Smith and New Hope Initiative. Special guests for the anniversary included Sandy Baird, director of New Hope Initiative and pastor of Grand Oaks Church in Houston, TX, and James Wagstaff, pastor of North Metro Church in Denver, CO. Local guests included the mayor of the city of Arusha (in the picture wearing the blue suit standing next to Vernon Smith), the local councilman, and several other local officials. Smith was able to lead in a special pray for the mayor during the event.
Over the past ten years, there have been over 220,000 patients seek medical care at this clinic. Robert Byemba, the clinic doctor, has been with the clinic from its inception. Byemba, educated and trained as an anesthesiologist, was a refugee from Congo and serving in Bible Baptist Church of Olorien with Smith when the clinic began. Byemba is standing to the right of the mayor in the picture. Not only does the clinic diagnose and treat patients, but the Gospel is also shared with each patient that comes through the clinic.
To read more about the Olorien Community Clinic click here for an article from September 2016.